The Government needs to tread carefully when it comes to welfare cuts
The welfare system is not working as it was intended to. There are two sides to the issue of increasing welfare costs.
Honest, hard working people are fed up with seeing people treat benefits as a lifestyle choice. There are people out there gaming the system. They are exploiting a generous welfare system that is intended for the most vulnerable.
That needs to stop and people who are able to work need to be in employment. The country can no longer afford to pay for idlers to sit at home.
But with 16 major UK charities – including Citizens Advice, Scope and Disability Rights UK – sending a letter to the Chancellor warning that the cuts would have a “catastrophic impact” on disabled people, pushing hundreds of thousands of households into poverty, it is important for the Government to tread carefully.
Reforms to the welfare system are expected ahead of the spring statement at the end of this month, with the Chancellor looking for public spending savings. However, the Government has to walk a tightrope and ensure that those that are in genuine need are looked after in a compassionate society.
As Rachael Maskell, the MP for York Central, warns, cuts cannot come at the “expense of pushing disabled people into poverty”. And there are a lot of people who genuinely need the safety net of the state. Better support is needed to help disabled people into work. When there are 2.8 million people not in work due to ill-health and one in eight young people not in education, training or employment, clearly efforts need to be redoubled when it comes to employment.